TOLEDO OPERATIONS

Ambulance company MedCorp shuts down

Closure sudden; job losses not yet known

MedCorp emergency services abruptly closed its Toledo-area operations Friday evening. The extent of local job losses was not immediately known.

An operator answering MedCorp’s administration line Saturday morning said she was taking calls “and advising that we are no longer in business.” She said she would forward inquiries to a company official, but an operator who answered the phone several hours later declined to identify herself and said the company had no comment.

“At this point, I am not allowed to give ... any information,” the operator said.

MedCorp, a Toledo-based ambulance service, filed for bankruptcy protection in 2011. The same year, it was acquired by First Med EMS, based in Wilmington, N.C., according to First Med’s Web site.

Calls and an email to a First Med spokesman were not returned, and the company’s Web site was down for maintenance Saturday.

Several MedCorp employees who worked at its sites in both Toledo and the Columbus area said they were told Friday night not to report to work. The employees spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they feared their final paychecks might be withheld or that they would suffer other retaliation for speaking with reporters.

The company is no longer operating its local ambulance and ambulette services, employees said, but it was unclear how many people had lost their jobs.

In 2011, MedCorp had more than 200 employees in Toledo.

MedCorp announced in March it would close its Findlay operation and move equipment and employees to other northwest Ohio bases after the city of Findlay said it planned to negotiate with another emergency-services company to respond to 911 calls.

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